Kuwaiti banks: Flying a crowded nest
As new players enter the Kuwaiti banking market and the central bank tightens lending rules, existing domestic players are increasingly
looking abroad, writes Clare Dunkley.
In contrast to the catchphrase once used to advertise the UK’s TSB – “the bank that likes to say ‘yes’” – the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has traditionally been viewed as the bank that likes to say the opposite. Thus the Kuwaiti financial sector is typically regarded as either the GCC’s most carefully regulated and stable, or most over-scrutinised and restrictive. But from both perspectives, it is a market in a state of almost unprecedented flux, with new rules being imposed, new institutions entering the marketplace, and established players taking advantage of more than five years of economic boom and hence ballooning profits to spread their wings overseas – escaping both the fierce competition and the draconian referee.
